What happened?

Oh dear... It's been some time since I posted anything here.

I mean the short version was I finished my main goal (sub Final Fantasy XV), and whenever I tried to go from there I lost a lot of interest.

There's always a small chance I try to start back up, but as of right now, I'm kinda cool with how things have ended here.

I completed my main goal of "finish all the Final Fantasy games and describe them", and I even did a few other small things. I did some minor writing (removed it cause it wasn't good), I did some music reviews, I reviewed some odd RPGs, and I even had a few random posts with strange opinions and introspective of seemingly random things!

All in all, I'm happy how things went, but I also should probably do something here... I'll figure something out soon and maybe even come back! I'm fairly busy with the real life things, but I might be able to make some time for something simple!

Stay tuned... and May the Crystals Guide Me~

News Post! (5/31/2015)

So... It's been some time. It's almost been two months since I've posted anything on here.
We all know I haven't been a very constant poster since I finished up the Final Fantasy series. Even then, I was starting to slack a bit near the end as I got less and less time to play and generally put off getting the post typed up.

Part of me wants to see this blog grow and go further, but the rate at which I'm going plus the actual free time I have to myself... It's not looking good. Every time I come around here to try and post something, I'm either tired, unmotivated, can't think of what to post, or just rather take my free time for me. I applaud those people who do a blog in their off time and do so well. I just can't get things together sometimes...

ANYWAYS! I'm going to try and get things back together soon, but I can't really give a definite of how or when.

I've got a few games I could easily review if I took the time, and there are plenty of albums I've gained since my last real posting. Either way, I'll figure something out and hopefully get my act together within the next week.

Wish me luck, and let's hope things can go up from here!

If you're still around and checking this... You sir/madam/other are just a huge trooper, and I thank you for sticking around. Until the next post...

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

News Post! (1/6/2015)

2014 In Review & The Future of 2015

And thus this blog survives another year. I'm looking forward to another year, but I'm starting to be unsure of what I should do. Last year I kinda messed up the middle portion of the year when I completely stopped posting. Had I any people reading this around that point... I probably lost them. I'm hoping to turn around the amount of content on this blog, but I'm still in that "not sure what I should do" area of questioning. I figure that I go in one of three directions this year (possibly multiple ones at the same time)...

1. Start reviewing quite a bit more albums for Video Game Band Awareness.
     -This is a given. I've wanted to increase the number of album reviews and explosions, but I tend to get behind on these by either timing or relevance. Basically, it'd be best to do these near release rather than several months later. (Kinda that weird zone where the album hype is clearly past but not so far away to consider it a classic yet.) Solution here is to try and get at least one new album a month to review and then pick one classic album to review as well. Maybe get one or two more depending on how things are going. Slow down when I catch up on a majority of what I have.

2. Figure up a larger number of Side Posts and complete them on time.
     -I often think of great ideas for Side Posts, but if I'm not careful, I really lose the steam and focus on it quite fast. It's one part working, one part distractions. I try my best to follow through, but next thing I know, a post that should have taken a couple hours at most turns into several days. Then the blog goes without a post for a while and... You get what I'm saying. I figure the easiest and best method here is to start and finish a post within a day. Pick one of my days off and just make that shit happen. No excuses, no distractions, no delays. Just. Get. Things. Done.

3. Try to actually complete RPGs in order to talk and review them.
    -I have quite a few of them in my backlog. Old ones, new ones, weird ones, unfun ones. A massive assortment of RPGs to play and talk about. I even bought a pile of them for the PSP (that I play on my Vita) and yet haven't gotten very far in any of them. Also been so long since I tried them that I can't really even make a small post describing the "what is ups" about them. I figure that only solution to this is to try and write about games before I finish them. I don't really like this idea, but it would make more sense with an RPG. (It will be a small miss on the Character/Story aspect, but I've got to try and accomplish more things.)

4. Figure up new subjects/ideas for the blog in general.
    -This initial focus was Final Fantasy and then grew into video game band music and other bits about gaming. Maybe it's time to advance a little further...? At the same time, I preferred that the blog keep at a fairly focused idea versus becoming something so generic that it doesn't feel special. Maybe that's just me but... I could always give it a shot. I mean hell, I've done random posts in the past. They were mostly filler too, so... would it really hurt to try again? I guess not, but I'm going to focus on keeping things... well focused.

And thus is the goal for this year. Just improve the blog in general in both the content and my habits. Let's hope things go well! Wish me luck.

And like many times before, thanks to anybody who has remotely stuck around through the times despite my terrible update schedule and often funky ways. Here's to 2015!

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

News Post! (11/15/2014)

So, I'm going to keep this short because I've had too many of these lately.

First off, I want to keep doing the blog. That means I don't plan to close shop anytime soon (short of death or something horrible killing my love for games).

Secondly, I'm going to need to change how I'm doing everything on Recurring Fantasy.

I said the first part first so that the second part was obvious. As you may realize, I'm taking waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much time to complete things. Chrono Trigger? Should have had that done a month and a half ago... if not sooner. I could apologize, but I won't... not because I shouldn't but because I've done it too much as is. I can't apologize for life although I want to.

I work full time, and the blog isn't the main focus of my day. I do enjoy posting and sharing stuff, but the format with which I do it now can often feel tedious and more like a job than something I enjoy. I like playing games, I enjoy RPGs, but the method which I post them up on here isn't working well. I don't get posts done very fast and often not at all with the pace I go.

So what are my solutions?

1. I can drop doing a "Day" format for games and simply post up reviews as I finish them (if I can stomach finishing them).

2. I stick with the "Day" format, but I literally make it one day. Whatever I get done in the game in a day is what gets done. I get the post up that day or by the following day. This means lots of little posts though, and that just sounds like too much too fast.

I haven't thought up a third solution at this time. It's mostly going to be either Option 1 or Option 2. Of course, a third option would probably go...

3. I refocus the blog from RPG playthroughs into Video Game Bands while still keeping RPGs/game reviews as a secondary thing.

I really, REALLY like video game music. It invades my brain at all times of the day. To state it moreso... My favorite kind of music at this point in my life is Video Game Music by Video Game Bands. Whether that comes from pure video game soundtracks (Final Fantasy, Sonic the Hedgehog, Mega Man), video game bands (The Megas, Knight of the Round, Descendants of Erdrick, Random Encounter, and much, much more), chiptune artists (Dj CUTMAN, Benjamin Briggs, Chiptunes=WIN! in entirety), video game remixers (OCRemix, anything GameChops), or game-influenced artists (Professor Shyguy, Mega Ran, Doug Funnie, URIZEN).

I could list at least twenty more artists here but I didn't... for now. This brews down to me having a lot of bands/artists/music I'd love to share and partially review. Partial being that it's more about the sharing than breaking/fondling anybody's balls.

So in summation... Be prepared for a change soon! (Also not sure what I'll play next, but I'll have something soon.) I figure a small break so I can actually play some of the games I've neglected at the moment. Small break is going to equal out to "Nothing new next week", but the few people still reading this are probably used to that idea. ANYWAYS!

Thanks for any loyal peeps/returning fans/friends who take the time to read this/that one guy. I thank you for giving this blog even a moment of your time. This year is... more or less a failure, but I'm going to try and rectify that quite soon. Thanks again and PREPARE YOURSELF MORTALS!

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

News Post! (Sorta)

So! Sorry for the lack of updates the past two weeks. Days off from two weeks ago were squandered by Smash Bros. I got some Chrono Trigger time in, but not enough to be worth posting.

Then the last week I used my days off to head off to a few concerts. (I'm selfish. Sue me. :I)

On Friday (Oct 10th), I went with a friend to the Mötley Crüe farewell tour. I enjoyed my time, but I'm not the biggest Crüe fan either. I really liked Alice Cooper's act though. That man... puts on the greatest show EVER!

Then on Saturday, I went to one of the most magical events ever. PARTY MADNESS 64! A small/medium-sized festival featuring FIFTEEN (Think I counted that right...) different groups. I had so much fun, I met several people (a few I've met before, but also lots of new faces) and just had a great time. So I'm going to post up some of the pictures I got of the groups as well as links to some of the videos I managed to record.

My phone decided to be a butt, and my battery died before even half the show was over... Anyways! Great time with great groups and awesome, awesome music. I'll post up a few pictures below, a link to the gallery of all I got, and a few links of the videos I managed.

Doug Funnie on Stage

Random Encounter featuring Lauren the Flute

Descendants of Erdrick

Professor Shyguy

Lauren the Flute, myself, and Careless from Random Encounter.

Picture Gallery on Imgur -> LINK!

Videos of a few songs on Youtube!

Droidekka

Doug Funnie

Random Encounter + Lauren the Flute

Sorry for the lack of a true update, but I promise one is around the corner within the next few days. I figure around two more Time Checkpoints, and I'll be done with Chrono Trigger.

That's all I've got for now, but I'll have another Time Checkpoint soon! Look forward to it, and thank you all for your patience.

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

News Post! (9/10/2014)

I'm just here to make a quick post to advertise something. It won't be a great advertisement, but the word of this project needs to be spread!... cause I believe in it.

The Players' Score - A Video Game Documentary

Now, I don't know your feelings on Kickstarter (my own feelings are in the grey really), but this is definitely one worth supporting if you love video game music like I do.

As of right now, they still haven't met their goal. I've already pledged for the documentary bluray and soundtrack. It could really use a boost right now, and it'd be great to see this succeed considering all the great bands that are listed on it.

So take a chance on this and give today!
(If you don't trust Kickstarter.... no blame or hard feelings.)
((Also... No, this doesn't count as my post for the week. That's coming soon, but it might be close.))

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

News Post! (8/23/2014)

Okay. I realize I'm doing a lot of not-RPG posts, but that should stop soon. Just laying out my new plan for the future of Recurring Fantasy.

First up, I'm going to aim to do a post a week. That seems both fair to me, and it should be more than easy for me to accomplish every week. (This doesn't count as this week's post.)

Secondly, for a bit, I'll probably scale up the number of VGBA and Side Posts to make up for the lack of content recently. Also to give me a bit of time to prepare and ready myself for the next act in Recurring Fantasy history...

Third and finally, I'm in the process of choosing the next RPG to play. Due to similarities, I won't be playing anymore Dragon Quest for now. I feel like going back now will just cause me to relapse and quit again. I don't want to do that... However, I am still feeling RPG-ish. I just need to pick which one to play.

Most likely, I'm going to pick something from the PlayStation lineup of RPGs. Why? I have a huge selection of them already purchased and downloaded on my PS3. (I'm a sucker for the PlayStation classics and sales. I've gotten soooo many RPGs built up on there it's not funny.) I'll make the announcement pretty soon though, so look forward to the game selection!

As always, thanks to anybody who has stuck around and please look forward to a bright future on... RECURRING FANTASY!

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

News Post! (8/15/2014)

WELP, I dropped all the balls. All of them.

Long story short, playing Dragon Warrior III (and this blog in general) started feeling less like fun and more like a job. That really got me down, and then I decided to break out of here and make a run for the hills. Once in those hills, I became too comfortable with just ignoring and not updating or posting. This is bad. I can and will do better. However, here are the most likely ground rules of what is to come...

1. I'm not going to continue Dragon Warrior III at this time. If I decide to continue the series, I'll probably skip over III and go straight to IV. (They start being remakes and less old-school hassle to play.)

2. It's most likely that I pick up either another classic RPG or even a newer one to play through and review. I'm undecided at the moment, but I've got a few bullets in the chamber to consider.

3. Much like before, I won't promise anything, but I will REALLY try to get back on track here. I give mad props to someone who has a site/blog/whatever that they upkeep almost everyday with new content and such to offer. I feel silly next to any of those people, regardless of what their content is. (Personally would prefer quality to quantity, but something is better than nothing. Amirite?)

4. Referring back to 2, I think I will aim for random RPGs rather than doing a whole series. You probably noticed near the end of Final Fantasy that I was really slowing down on cranking those posts out. There's a reason for that. It was a year and a half of playing the series straight through, and the later games were not as great as earlier ones. If I did it again, I'd probably go backwards from the latest to the first.

5. In the future, I plan to buy and play Final Fantasy XV. I will probably go so far as to interrupt what I'm currently playing to pick it up and beat it. (Might as well do SOMETHING with that PlayStation 4 I have...)

6. Hurray for 6! It's just a placeholder.

In summation, I'm going to try better and see if I can't get this blog running again. If there's anybody out there who's still coming around, expect something soon... very soon. (Not that VGBA about History Repeating Red, that's something that was backlogged that I needed to get out first.)

Onward we go!

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

2014 - A New Year For a New Series

And so it seems, another year has come and gone.

I've made quite some progress since the beginning. Final Fantasy, as a numbered series, is complete! I really enjoyed playing through the first half of the series. It got a bit rougher for the last half (starting with X and going up through to XIII), but I still had fun here and there.

The only true negative of it all was how long it took me to beat, type up, and make new posts. And as far as the year goes at this time? I'm really taking my time getting it all said and done. I'm still enjoying the games here and there, and Dragon Warrior/Quest is proving to be a great series all the way from the beginning! However, I'm going to have to step up my game if I want to finish a majority of the series this year! (If I was better, I'd already be on the III or IV by now...)

I can be honest in saying that it's mostly life getting in the way. Work and all. The blog isn't mah full time job or nothing, so I usually get around to it once or twice a week if that much. I'm doing my best, but I need to do better. If I had a new year's resolution, it would be that.

Long story short, I need to work more on the blog when I can! I WILL DO MY BEST, BUT I PROMISE NOTHING!

Anyways, Dragon Warrior II is going quite well, but I'm needing to step it up and beat it before January ends. That and I still have a few other posts in the making.

The most unfortunate thing is the progress on the short story "Call of the Night". I'm going to try and finish it, but I've had major writer's block on the current chapter. On top of that, I'd rather keep this blog more focused on the video game outlet. This doesn't mean that it won't get finish, but it will be pushed to the back while I work on other things. For anybody who might be coming just for that alone, I do apologize. I've got a good story thought up, but it just isn't coming out how I want it to.

Getting past that... It's been TWO YEARS since I started! Games have risen and fallen, new consoles have come out, and we might even see a new Final Fantasy soon! Yes, I have a PS4, and I'll at least dedicate a post to the new Final Fantasy. Will I fully play through it "Day-style"? That's to be decided. If I finish up the Dragon Warrior/Quest series, then yes! I will. If I haven't... I'll probably just get around to it eventually.

All in all, I'm glad I did as much as I have. I just need to refocus my efforts and get to working on the blog more! I thank any and all who take anytime to come around here and read my little musings and my posts as I slowly progress through games. It means a lot for what few views come around. No, I'm not looking for any kind of "famous-ocity", but I just like seeing that I'm getting something. Thanks again, and look forward to another great year on... RECURRING FANTASY!

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

News Post! (11/18/2013)

Now, this is going to be fairly short and sweet and answer a few questions I have about what I'm going to do next.

1. What comes next?

This one is easy because I have been planning and broadcasting it for a while. With Final Fantasy coming to conclusion (AKA I've run out of titles), I'm planning to play through another long-running RPG series. There aren't very many out there that are also very well known. There are a few PC-based ones, but I don't think I'll be tackling those anytime soon.

That and I had a great thought somewhere along the way... I remembered that there is another series that has actually been around LONGER than Final Fantasy! It's a lesser known game that was so popular in Japan that they aren't allowed to release it during the week. It is Dragon Quest!

Of course, just so you know, the first couple of titles were actually released in America as Dragon Warrior, so the first couple titles will be played under their original American name. Thus the constant use of "Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest" when I mention it.

2. How are you planning to do it?

With Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, I actually owned a copy of the game, but I felt that my posts needed more pictures to help make the wall of words have some pretty in between. Now, I will say right now that I do and/or plan to own every single Dragon Warrior/Quest game in one form or another.

As of this moment, I own all of them except for Dragon Quest V and Dragon Quest VII. They seem to be the most expensive of the group, so I'm holding off on them for the moment. Also, despite all this buying, I plan to use a fancy emulator to play most of them where I can.

An emulator allows me to have backup saves through Save States, take screenshots, and easily access and play it next to the blog post. Thus I can write and make notes as I go as opposed to turning around constantly from my TV and sometimes ignoring the game for long periods.

(For those curious, the emulator setup I'm using is this. -> RetroArch.)
(Long story short, it's a frontend program that can run multiple emulators. Figure I'll use BSnes as the core.)

And the current plan is to play the first three games (Dragon Warrior 1, 2, and 3) on the emulator and follow the rest on whatever console/handheld I can access them. It'll look something like this...

1. Dragon Warrior I (GB) - Emulator.
2. Dragon Warrior II (GB) - Emulator.
3. Dragon Warrior III (GBC) - Emulator.
4. Dragon Warrior IV (NDS) - Console.
5. Dragon Warrior V (NDS) - Console. (Needs to be purchased!)
6. Dragon Warrior VI (NDS) - Console.
7. Dragon Warrior VII (PS1) - Console. (Needs to be purchased!)
8. Dragon Warrior VIII (PS2) - Console.
9. Dragon Warrior IX (NDS) - Console. 

*FYI, Console = handheld where appropriate.*

I have plans to buy the missing games, but it won't be anytime soon since I don't need them quite yet.

3. What about Final Fantasy XIV and Final Fantasy XV?

This is probably the only REAL question anybody would have because yes, I haven't said anything about either one. Honestly? I'm not very interested in playing an MMO (XIV) because I don't really have anybody I'd play it with. And for me... the MMO would only be fun alongside a couple friends. I skipped XI anyways, and nobody seems to have stomped on that thought. (Of course my reader database is probably like ten people at best. XD)

Then that leaves the unreleased Final Fantasy XV for the PS4. I'll probably buy it and give a quick play of it, but from what I've seen, I dunno how much I'll be impressed. It'll look beautiful. There's no arguing that, but I can't see myself enjoying it nearly as much as I have previous ones. Maybe it's nostalgia, maybe it's just being tired of the series, or maybe Final Fantasy XIII truly killed the series for me. I dunno, but I figure I'll at least buy it and give it a chance.

Also... NO! LIGHTING RETURNS IS NOT HAPPENING! Just... NO!

And that about wraps up all the main questions anybody would probably have here. I did say they were my own questions, but I was trying to be funny... OH RIGHT!

I will start playing Dragon Warrior I by the end of the month. I don't know when the first post will be, but you should expect it about the end of the month/beginning of December. That's it folks. See you soon!

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

News Post! (9/16/2013)

It's been nearly two weeks since I last made any kind of post (minus the VGBA post below this one), so I figured I'd give a small update on how things are going.

First and foremost, I'm ALMOST done with my brief play of XIII-2, but I've extended the time from five hours to about seven hours to get the best possible feel about it. As far as a small spoiler would go... I'm liking it more than XIII! I should be able to have a Day post up by this weekend. I know that's a ways away, but work has taken up more time than I'd like it to. (F**kin' real life AMIRITE?)

Next up, what comes up next? I'm going to quickly play through Final Fantasy Mystic Quest. I want to finish that game, and my understanding is that it is both really simple and fairly short. I figure I could wrap it up in about 2-3 Day posts. I'm undecided if I should play my actual cartridge or emulate it though... If I emulate it, I can post screenshots, so there is a good chance I'll do that. (Also I bought this fancy USB SNES controller for my PC! Link! It's a pretty good and solid controller, and it's a great price. Highly recommend it.)

With Mystic Quest finished, I should be able to start up the next series sooner rather than later. For those who forgot, I've decided to tackle the legendary and fairly long running Dragon Quest series! The first few titles will actually be called Dragon Warrior since they were originally released here like that. Regardless, look forward to that happening by October! (As long as Pokemon X and Y doesn't eat ALL of my time...)

The final note for this post involves my Call of the Night short story... I AM SORRY! The problem there is one part lazyness and one part not having the time I'd like. Work ends up making me leave early and come in late. I only have a bit of time to work on it in the morning, and by the time I am back, I end up not working on anything. This has affected me finishing ANY posts in a timely manner, but my story has taken the hardest hit here. I really only write a couple of lines to a paragraph at a time. I'm aiming to have something done mid-October for that though, so please be patient. It gets delayed the most because it is the lowest focus of my blog at the moment.

If you are wondering how I just released another album review then... Do you see how small it is? I can listen to albums a couple of times over days while heading to work or just while I am writing. This makes it easy to think about and give it an honest review. On top of that, my review style for music is usually pretty quick and to the point. I don't drag on very much, but I can review them pretty quickly and easily. In the end, it means my VGBA posts are more like filler, but since I don't often release, filler is better than nothing... Right?

WRONG! 

Okay okay! I'll try to cut back on those posts while I get around to finishing others. That is really all I have to say right now. I'd like to greatly, GREATLY thank anybody who sticks around and comes by just to read a few posts here and there. I know it might not mean much to you, but it's nice to see that I have some form of regulars coming around. It might just be friends and family... But I'll take it!

That's all I have for this News Post, and once again, I do apologize. Look forward to at least one more post this week. Possibly two if I can get my butt in gear. /ending post now

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

News Post! (8/11/2013)

I've gathered you here to say that...

FINAL FANTASY XIII IS FINALLY OVER!
THANK GOD IT IS FINALLY OVER!
PRAISE ALLAH IT IS DONE!
I APPRECIATE BUDDHA FOR GIVING ME THE PATIENCE TO FINISH!
MUCH OBLIGED TO VISHNU FOR SOMETHING... RELIGIONS!

Apologies, I'm just happy to finally see the game done. As for the day post and final thoughts...
I figure I can throw those bad boys out by Tuesday.  Going to try and finish what I can today though!

This day has finally come guys... And it feels good. T_T
My goal of all the Final Fantasy titles is (MORE OR LESS) complete!
I'm lacking a few side titles at this point, but I shall cover those soon enough.
Look forward to my Final Fantasy XIII final posts within the next week.
After that, I've got a five hour play for XIII-2. Then there is ending the entire series with Mystic Quest!
I figure after that I'll take at least a month break before starting Dragon Warrior/Quest.
I want to pump out a few RPG reviews and such before I start the next series. (Also I need a decent-sized RPG break.)

I'd like to thank anybody who has stuck with my blog for all this time, and you should look forward to future plans coming soon!

~May the Crystals Guide Me~*

*Oooh, I might have to change that with Dragon Warrior/Quest. I don't really want to, but it doesn't really have a crystal theme like the Final Fantasy games do... Ummm, I figure something Log related since I believe saves in that series are almost always called "Logs", or at least the early ones are. Until then...

~Woo~

News Post! (6/21/2013)

SO! I'm having these way more frequently than I remotely did last year.

I think I had...ONE last year, so that's how well things are going!
I kid. Things are going well, but I guess I'm just making an effort to make this blog a little bit more AND keeping people up-to-date on things to come and/or changes in things that are going now. There will be at least two parts to this post and maybe a third part if I think of something before I finish typing!
Let's get straight to the neeeews!

First off...You might be wondering why I don't get very many posts done in a month compared to last year. There are a lot of answers and excuses to this, but the first and foremost one is purely...time. I work 4 out of the 7 days in a week, and I generally don't get around to playing much on my days on. This leaves my days off to playing Final Fantasy, and even then, I generally have other things I want to do. Thus, I barely get much time, and that leads to less content gotten in a day. That in turn means I don't get enough for a post for at least 2-3 weeks. All-in-all, I'm a big fat failure. (Or so I feel like.)

In my defense, I have other games and activities I want to do. New games keep coming out, and I leap out on them! Of course, most of these don't take up more than about 30ish hours in a month or two. Some take up even less than that! I have also been painting Warhammer 40k miniatures! That takes around 2-8 hours out of a day if I want to paint because I focus on painting. If you want proof, I can post up a few pictures of what miniatures I've painted! I might go ahead and do that as nice filler between all the blank days of nothing. 

As a final note for part one, I'm going to aim to finish FFXIII in July. If I have to, I'm going to FORCE it out by the end of July. I'm ready to move on and finish up the Final Fantasy series. I should have been done by now, but I have no one to blame but me. If you forgot/I never said anything, I've got two more titles to wrap up Final Fantasy before I move on to DRAGON QUEST! (Or Dragon Warrior if you prefer for the first several titles.) I'm going to do a 5 hour play of XIII-2, despite what I currently think, and then I'll wrap up the series with another classic, Final Fantasy Mystic Quest. IT SHALL BE GLORIOUS!

Now, you might be wondering what the part two is about... I have plans for another kind of post on the blog! If I can get it going, I want to start reviewing video game music bands, chiptunes, and other miscellaneous video game-related music albums. I've got a huuuuge amount I plan to share through this! My mind is just jam-packed full of music that I want to share and talk about. Of course, I did say review, but I love most of the bands I listen to and plan to share through this. Thus...I won't be very harsh. I'm still trying to think up a ranking/rating system for how I do this. Honestly, I might just abandon that idea right now and just review good albums and highly suggest them. Either way, it's another kind of post to look forward to/dread! 

That's all for this news post. As usual, I thank anybody who has stuck with me through thick and thin. I haven't been the most diligent as of late, but my goal is so close...I SHALL MAKE IT SOON! Thank you and goodnight!

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

News Post!

It's been some time since I made a post, and I figured I should explain why.
Also I made like four posts in a row, so I felt I should try to liven the blog up since it's been like eight days.

First off, I've been slowly working on my ten hour post of Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions. I'd have it done faster, but I've been playing a couple other games at the same time. (FYI, It's Injustice: Gods Among Us and Fire Emblem Awakening.) I should have my ten hour play of Final Fantasy Tactics done this week, and then I'll be starting Final Fantasy XIII by the end of April/beginning of May.

Secondly, the "Call of the Night" is being slowly but surely worked on. I can really only write when inspiration hits me, and I'm sort of drawing a blank. I've also decided to increase the number of chapters from seven to eight. The reason? I was going to try and shoehorn too much into Chapter 2, so I'm planning to split up what was Chapter 2 into Chapter 2 and Chapter 3. I'll edit the page for Call of the Night to reflect this soon enough. Either way, I figure at least a week or more before I finish Chapter 2.

As far as the future goes, once I finish Final Fantasy XIII (guessing around 2-3 months for that), I'll briefly play XIII-2 and then follow up with Final Fantasy Mystic Quest. Then, when I finally have all of that done, I'll finally start on Dragon Quest. I plan to play the Game Boy/Game Boy Color remakes of the first three on an emulator (I own real copies.) so that I can take screenshots as I play through the game. I'm hoping it will add to the overall post experience. Who knows! It couldn't possibly make them worse...Right?

That....That's all I got really. Thanks for reading, and look forward to Final Fantasy Tactics post soon.

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

News Post!

SO! This post is to just say that I've run out of ideas for Side Posts.
Well, I've run out of ideas for GOOD Side Posts at least. Sure, I could keep writing reviews, but I'm not up for reviewing all sorts of titles. I'd end up just reviewing an RPG here and there. I only have a handful of RPGs I'd end up wanting to review, so the list would go by pretty quickly. I'm not really the best at lengthy or detailed reviews either, so what you'd really get is a big post of "I REALLY LIKE THIS GAME! YOU SHOULD LIKE IT TOO!" Let's be honest...Who wants to play and review a game they don't like? I could maaaybe pull it off if the game in question was one I picked up with hopeful intentions, but I'm pretty selective about the games I buy anymore. A crappy game slips through the cracks here and there, but I look around and talk with people to make sure I avoid anything awful. 

Anyways, I'm considering doing something slightly different from the rest of my posts. I really enjoy pen and paper roleplaying games, but I don't ever get the time to play them. (To be fair, I have the time to play them, but my friends are never available to do them.) During this process of wanting to roleplay, I've made up a considerable number of characters, story ideas, world ideas, and more. I figure it's time to put some of those to use and attempt to write an actual story. 

TO SUMMARIZE THIS ENTIRE POST, I'm going to start posting up short stories. 

It strays away from the theme of the blog, but it'd be something different and/or interesting to anybody who comes along. It would also give me practice at attempting to type things up better. Who knows! I might actually enjoy what I write and try to run with it. The worst case scenario is I type up a story, read said story, and just think "this is awful". The best case scenario is I grow famous, sell the movie rights, and cry as Micheal Bay or some other director ruins my artistic vision. 

I look forward to the negative criticism that follows! Thanks for reading! 

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

And so begins 2013...

Well, it's been a while (basically the beginning of last year) since I posted something that wasn't a Day # or a Side Post!

I've been at this for nearly a year now, and I've completed ten of the twelves titles I've sought to play. I was planning to be further along, but plans rarely go without a hitch. Either way, I'm happy with my overall progress and look forward to wrapping this up before this year gets too far.

As it currently stands, I lack Final Fantasy XII and Final Fantasy XIII. I've played very little of XII, and I'm very much NOT looking forward to XIII. Everybody I've talked to about it hasn't been able to push through it because of the sheer amount of unfun contained within. I plan to break past that barrier and beat it though! How fast or successful I am with that...Time will tell. Once I finish Final Fantasy XIII, I've got a couple different ideas of where to expand this blog.

In a past Side Post, I mentioned a large assortment of different games I might play. I reconsidered what games about a month or so ago, and I came to a couple of conclusions. One of these is I'd rather keep this blog focused purely on RPGs. This only eliminates a few of the titles I listed, but I find that completely acceptable. The next thing I realized was that there is a big series I hadn't considered. Apart from Final Fantasy, there's only a few other RPGs that have stood the test of time and survived this long.

The series I'm thinking of is the fabled Dragon Quest RPG series! It boasts a whopping ten titles without including any side series that have been spawned along the way. My plan is to start from the beginning with Dragon Warrior (America originally got the first four titles labelled as Warrior instead of Quest.) and play through until I reach Dragon Quest IX. I'm skipping Dragon Quest X because it's an online title, but I greatly look forward to the rest of the series! My decision to pick Dragon Quest was based on playing a little bit of it randomly back there. After some random and unnecessary purchases, I own almost all of the titles in the series. (1 thru 4, 6, and 9, so I'm only lacking 5, 7, and 8.) As far as I'm concerned, Dragon Quest is probably the best series to tackle after Final Fantasy. It's been around as long as the Final Fantasy, but it doesn't get nearly as much love as it does (in America at least...super popular in Japan).

Other plans to come for this year is to think of another label to use for my extra posts rather than Side Post! all the time. It's not necessarily bad, but it'd look nicer and easier if I could think of a different name for them. I could at least come up with a different title for when I switch to Dragon Quest. I already plan to make another page for the Dragon Quest post archive. Final Fantay's archive is called Archived Fantasy, so I figure I'll call the Dragon Quest one "Questing Logs" since the game called the saves "logs" in the early days. I'll also reset the day counter when that time comes.

Before moving on to Dragon Quest though, I plan to play a few off-FF titles! The current plans are to play through Final Fantasy Mystic Quest and maaaybe Final Fantasy Tactics. I'll see when the time comes. Worst case, I drop Tactics because that game can easily eat 70+ hours for me.

Apart from those announcements, the only other thing I have to add is to wish everybody who reads this a Happy New Year! Let us hope your goals, quests, fantasies, and other assorted plans come to fruition this year! I'm looking forward to another year of RPG-ing myself and can't wait to see where it all goes.

Thanks for reading! Let's hope I have another post up soon enough...

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

(P.S. - I have NO IDEA what kind of ending signature I'll do with Dragon Quest. As far as the blog goes, I'll probably just stick with that one since I don't think Dragon Quest has anything different I could say. I prefer the current one anyways...so for now, sticking with it!)

EDIT - Holy crap! I just realized (from the information that Blogger displays me) that THIS post is my 100th Blogger Post! YAY FOR ONE HUNDRED POSTS! I sure hope I see another hundred posts by the time next year comes around! Woooo! ONE HUNDRED! TAKE THAT DISBELIEVERS!

Deciding the format...

Well, I'm currently going to post with something along the following as my post formats.
This is more likely than not going to change!

*Post Title - Day # (I will only be posting days I play, so although it will say 'Day 1' or 'Day 2' it will probably be several days apart.)
*Game - Final Fantasy # (Obviously Final Fantasy, but mostly labeling which one)
*Hours Played/Hours Total - # hrs/# hrs (Going to try and keep track of how long it takes me to beat each title)
*Starting Point - Insert place here & Level here (Straightforward, just wherever I start in-game to as accurate as I can describe. )
*Current Goal - Simply going to state what I need to be doing in-game. Will also tack on any side quests I wish to tackle.
*What Happened - Hopefully will describe in fun detail whatever happened during the period of time. I will also go over any fun Final Fantasy knowledge I might have! Keep in mind...it's not much. ._.
*Ending Point - Insert place here & Level here (Same as starting point...but instead the ENDING point!)
*Levels Achieved - I'm not going to explain this... It explains itself! 

*Goals Accomplished - Insert list here (Hopefully, I will accomplish a little something every day. Mostly going to name if I finish a quest/beat a boss/collect important item #1)
*Next Goals - Will mostly consist of "What am I going to do next!" than anything.

Will end each post with my fancy signature line that I am going to do! :O

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

(For those in the unknowningness, a lot of the Final Fantasy titles involve crystals somehow.)

The First Post!

So, this post is here simply to state my mission.
My mission (if I choose to accept it) is to play the entirety of the numbered Final Fantasy catalog, including but not necessary limited to, Final Fantasy through Final Fantasy XIII.

Will I succeed? 
I sure as hell hope so...
For the sake of humanity (and myself), I have to succeed!

Do I have a reason?
Honestly, I have no reason. I just want to do this to hopefully prove I can finish it. Part of me just wants to do this so that I will follow through with it and complete my goal. As a plus, I'll be playing what are considered some of the greatest RPG games of our generation.

Got a goal?
Other than the obvious ones already stated...no.
I have played several of the titles in the series already, but I have only finished a fraction of them.
It would be nice to see the entirety of the series in...well in series.
Along the way, I'll be getting frustrated and bored of the games, but I will see it through!

Lay down some ground rules man!
So apparently I'm going to make posts like that...like I'm talking to myself.
The only true rule will be to finish one title before going to the next.
I'll start on Final Fantasy 1 and go from there.

Another big deal to me will be the use of guides...
I plan to avoid any use of a guide. If I get so stuck that I don't want to play it, I will consult a guide then.
Otherwise, no guides will be consulted. This does mean I probably won't do any/all of the side quests in the titles, but I can honestly say it'll be more refreshing this way. If I discover them by myself, it will feel like more of an accomplishment.

Although it is kinda cheating, I'll be playing the latest releases of most of the titles as opposed to the original versions. The reasons for this choice are...
1. Final Fantasy (1) - The original title is a classic, but it's also much, MUCH harder. I'd probably have to play it with an emulator, and that would decrease my progress significantly as compared to the PSP version.
2. Cost - Remakes of most of the titles are going to be cheaper than the original most likely.
3. Obtaining them - As said, I'm not going to emulate them, so I'll be buying them. The cost is one thing, but obtaining a copy of the old game is risky at best. I might get a bad copy, it might die halfway through, or it may just be unfun to deal with (NES, SNES ones). With all the remakes/ports of these games, I might as well just buy the latest versions.


This is not really a great first post, but it will have to do.
My journey will be a long and difficult one. I hope that I don't mess my life up over this.
And above all...I hope that I will actually make my goal.
If I even get through half the series, I will be proud of myself (and hate myself some too).

Here's to hoping that these fantasies...won't be my final ones.

May the Crystals Guide Me~